I want to say a word about where I sew and how it gets done, blah blah. I love seeing people's creative spaces-- it is inspiring and curious and sometimes crazy-making. Honestly, along with my excitement that people get to dedicate whole rooms to their craft I often get a little jealous. But that's life, right? And loads of people I know make things in their basement/shed/dorm room and I feel like that drive to make regardless of your space restrictions is really amazing and encouraging for those of us struggling to carve out space and time to sew or what-have-you.

This is technically the spare bedroom but we moved in here to sleep this last summer (because it's cooler) and then never moved back. Plus, it's a lot easier to keep our actual bedroom ready for guests. Our house is not so big. 700 square feet on top (3 bedrooms and a bath), 700 square feet on the main (living room and kitchen/den), and about 500 square feet of very scary unlivable storage/laundry basement (which includes its very own prison style potty smack dab in the middle. I know. Gross.).

What you're seeing is this:

1 desk filled with notions and patterns where the sewing machine lives

1 Bookshelf filled with fabric, mags, and books

1 metal rolling shelf stacked with other junk and a tv

A corner of our bed

The corner of the co-sleeper where baby boy sleeps

And Right Outside the Viewfinder:

A dresser full of clothes

My cutting mats jammed in behind the same dresser

The ironing board leaning up in the corner

The dirty laundry basket

And that's it. Really. There are bits of things like my mat cutter and other arty stuff/books stuck under beds and in other bookshelves around the house. I cut projects out on the floor and at the end of the day I try really hard to clean most of it up or at the very least, pile it all on the desk. Occasionally, I tack a large piece of flannel on the opposite wall to use for quilt piecing.

I would love to repaint this room and I need of new lighting. I see shelves over there in the corner above the tv and a new chair. And what I wouldn't do for a cutting table. That door behind the shelf? It leads to a weird slanted floor storage space that we haven't made work for us yet. There are ready-to-use picture frames underneath the desk by my presser foot and all my linen pieces are rolled and jammed in that little space between the shelf and the desk. I know that this would drive a lot of people nuts to have so much organized chaos in their lives-- let alone two feet from where they sleep. I've tried to do it differently, but given our space and my kids and our lives, I can't make it work any other way. I'm really thankful for this space and it keeps me motivated to get through and finish projects so I can get them the heck out of here.

I'm not proud of it though, but I'm not sure that matters...? Do with what you've got if you are at all compelled to DO. At the very least this a nice little Before shot in hopes of some day having a killer After one.

I found a bag of dolls, baby clothes and baby toys in the basement last week. I had forgotten they were down there and I was surprised to see a lot of the stuff. Sam was also surprised, but less happy because everything needed a good washing and a little Bac-Out before he would be in the same room with any of it. He was more surprised to realize that the crib I'd bought at a garage sale a few years ago was not actually a construction trolley but somewhere to put baby dolls to sleep! This was not good news until he learned that cribs need blankets and mattresses and pretend bottles and little! tiny! things to go in them. His future brightened considerably.

The quilt is about the same as Hillary's which was made from this pattern, which I clearly did not copy correctly since I'm just realizing that I left out the border entirely. Sheesh. The triangles came from this box and were all larger triangles that I cut down to size. It took me a little longer to do, but it was worth it to have them all vintage-ish. The binding is also second-hand, but the back is a newer feedsack repro print. I think I also should have stuck to the same solid green binding as the stripes, but OH WELL, it's done now.

The mattress fabrics are both home dec weights, and I think they both came from Alicia? Maybe one came from Molly. Those are the two dolls he likes the best as he wants nothing to do with the Cabbage Patch doll and both Raggedy Andy and Anne are sort of old hat around here. Augie likes them an awful lot though.

Sam sat on my lap while I stitched down the binding this morning. We talked about I'll teach him to sew when he's five and the difference between a needle and thread and the needle they use at the Doctor's office and different still, the needle one uses to knit with. It was nice. Even though it was precipitated by a cut on his finger. I'll take what I can get. It will be interesting to see if this stuff changes his play at all and brings out anything even vaguely maternal. He let Augie touch his arm yesterday! That is progress. Also, they intentionally bumped foreheads. That is practically kissing in my books.

I hear you about the red and white. What's not to love? I feel a little bad actually-- like I cheated getting all your nice complements. Thank you. Your generosity in these matters is very appreciated. Or, "dude, you're awesome", which is what I would say if we were meeting face-to-face.

Sooo... Easter tomorrow and I pretty much got nothin'. But. Birthdays are coming so I have a little incentive to get in gear. I'm trying out the chocolate molds today. Sam likes the dark spicy stuff, so Paul picked out a dark chocolate mint, and a milkier Chai bar for us to try. As usual, thank you, Amy. You put all the best ideas into one place.

I bought a couple of copies of this book. I love it more than Little Pea, which we like VERY MUCH and had Sam rolling around in tearful giggles before he could even talk. Long live the Corace and Krouse Rosenthal collaboration!

Sam is getting a skateboard for his birthday. This doesn't have anything to do with Easter really, and wouldn't fit into a basket very well. But I find it super funny that we went to the store to get it for our four year-old and in exchange he has to package up all his soothers (what we call his pacifier... he is very attached to them at night) and hand them over to us. It's like trading Pokemon cards in for a Driver's License. Very strange.

And since he's only turning four, I feel like it's the last year for a truly gender neutral birthday party. Okay, I lie, it feels like the last year for a party that might be construed as girlie. What do you think about this:Having a Spring/Growing theme and have the kids paint clay pots and plant starter flowers in them. Or veggies. It will all set up in stations. There will be boys and girls present ranging in ages from 2-7, with plenty of parents. We'll do it outside if it's nice and modify it for inside if it's not. Help me troubleshoot this, People. I plan on warning everybody about the possibility of paint and dirt. Would you be mad if your kid brought home something that might require a minimum of maintenance? It's not like I'm going to know or care if the stuff the dies.

Birthday parties at our house usually consist of making a whole lot of food and inviting everyone over to eat and hang out while the kids play together. Now all of a sudden I'm faced with activities and a schedule and better yet-- a child who will most likely watch all of this from the sidelines. He'll be thrilled that all his friends are over and totally overwhelmed with all of the above.

What else? Hannah is visiting next month. Maybe. Fingers crossed, y'all. It's going to be party time. I'm doing a Freezer Paper Stencil class at Bolt in April, too. You can check their website for the details. If you've been scared to try it, now is your chance. You can totally blame me if something goes wrong.

Hello! The Kitchen Quilt is finished. I paused for a minute before jamming it into the wash and thought about how I hadn't pre-washed any of it (purposely) and then, "hmmm, it's red and white and reds run and OH WELL, here goes". After abandoning this project in September, I reworked the blocks before Christmas and then stalled again looking for the right backing fabric. I wanted something exactly like Sarah's Pencil Shavings Quilt but didn't put my hands on anything like it until last week. It's light blue and not grey, but I think it worked out better that way.

The quilting went pretty fast. I had been worried that machine quilting would make the pinwheels all wobbly and stretched but that was not the case at all. I started it the night before Paul's mom arrived (in an effort to avoid cleaning), and was able to finish it up yesterday whilst Grandma thrilled and confounded Sam with her Playmobil imagining skills. It's a beautiful thing when you can manage a ratio of three adults to two children. The fabric is a combination of domestic and Japanese prints, and a Kona off-white solid. The binding is pieced and hand-sewn down on the back. There are 80 blocks and the whole thing finished measures about 50" by 62".

It is good to get this off its hanger and onto the floor/chair/couch where it belongs. Even with all the white, I think it's going to hide the jam stains quite well.

***The quilt is going in our kitchen where we also have a play area, a couch and a ugly-ish chair that needs covering up. A lot of the prints are food/kitchen related in some way as well... Honestly though, it looks quite nice upstairs on this bed so it'll be a toss up, I think.

I knew there would be lots of Whirly Pop love out there. I have been remiss in not exploring the kettle corn possibilities. I need to track down the recipe book that came with it and get on it. My friend Ryan also informed me that it's not a single use gadget-- he uses one to roast coffee beans! I imagine nuts would work, too.

I did not get much of the basement done, but the yard looks as good as it ever has in March. We managed to get all the old paint out of the basement and take it to get recycled (Metro will recycle both the cans and some of the actual paint into new stuff). There was a lot. Low VOC paints weren't really on our radar when we were redoing the house-- there were very few options, and it was pretty expensive. We probably should have still gone with that, however. I am a little freaked out at how big that pile was. Lesson learned.

Anyway, the weather is turning cool and wet just in time for a visit from Paul's mom and for me to get sewing again. I got some XXL tshirts at the Bins. They were 1.59/lb, so I'm guessing that's about the price of each shirt. I'd say that will give you enough material for a 6 year old's shorts right down to multiple pairs of baby pants. These are for Sam and are in reference to this post and Boden beach pants. I don't always like buying good used clothes if I know someone else might need them as they are, but buying stuff at the bins means that it was the last stop for these poor things.

I don't have a serger and I use a long straight stitch and a stretch needle to sew knits. I usually only run into problems with with hemming/arm holes, so I used the existing hem of the shirt for the bottom of the pants. If you're going to do this, it's important to 1. Cut the fabric out with the bottom of the pattern lined up with the bottom of the shirt (the grain lines will right themselves if you do it this way) and 2. Sew the sides and inseam starting at the existing hem line (bottom up).

You can use any elastic waist pants pattern or trace a pair of existing pants. I added about a centimeter in width moving towards the bottom of the "front" pattern piece, so they wouldn't look tapered. I also added some pockets. The pockets make them a little heavier, so I'll probably opt for none next time or put patch ones on the back.

I have been eating a lot of popcorn in an effort to counteract the caloric nightmare my renewed love of baking/snacking has created. I use a Whirly Pop and a teaspoon or two of oil and it comes out perfectly every single time. I love this contraption. It works on my crappy electric range, it takes 5 minutes, and Sam likes to crank the handle. Plus, we've had it seven years and it's still in great shape.

I, however, am not in great shape and it may have something to do with baked-snack-chocolate-fest happening in this house. BUT! Listen up. I am very, very pleased with the brownies made from Cook's Illustrated (I'm going to link over to Smitten Kitchen for the recipe) which I modified slightly when I added some very strong coffee to the batter. You can get all kinds of info straight from the Cook's Illustrated site if you sign up for a free 14 day membership. This would be well worth your time (if you've got some) if you're looking for foolproof awesomeness the next time you want to bake something.

Biscotti has considerable less fat than the devil-brownies, and I'm loving on Martha's recipe minus the pistachios and sub in dried cranberries for raisins. Sam loves them, too, and dips them in his soy milk. Hello, Happy Guy. They are so much better than the other ones I was making. In my experience, Martha's recipes (at least the baking ones) are not so foolproof, but I can happily vouch for this one.

I'm not sewing because I'm sort of in a slump and I just need to leave well enough alone for right now. I think we're going to clean out our hell hole of a basement this weekend and just maybe get rid of the Christmas tree that's still sitting in its stand in the side yard (you know, just in case I need to hide behind something). We're going to try and go to Lisa's opening on Friday and there's this on Sunday which looks very, very cool. There's also the Depot sale. Just because I'm not sewing this minute does not mean I'm not accumulating. I have a problem...well, lots actually, but it's March and I love March!! So problems be damned.